Lisa Buck is an artist manager, an artistic director and a key figure in the dynamic jazz community in Calgary, Canada. She started the successful house-concert series “BuckingJam Palace” where world-class jazz musicians quietly appear in Calgary one night a month to play concerts for a very small audience.
The venue has hosted musicians including John Hollenbeck, Christine and Ingrid Jensen, and Joel Frahm. Lisa also manages the JUNO-nominated all-women ensemble “The Ostara Project.” Spear-headed by award-winning jazz musicians Jodi Proznick and Amanda Tosoff, the ensemble showcases the strength and creativity of Canadian women in jazz. Membership is fluid and what remains constant is that Ostara artists are all top-tier musicians, composers and bandleaders who reflect the geographical, cultural and creative diversity of Canada’s musical landscape. Lisa lives in Calgary with her husband, Tom, and they have three children, aged 34, 33 and 29.
UKJazz News: What is the best advice you received about balancing/juggling motherhood and career?
Lisa Buck: My mother-in-law, Laurel, was a wise woman. She gave Tom and me direction about balancing life that applied beautifully to parenthood. We all came from an Anglican background which valued giving back to the community: it’s a fulfilling and potentially exhausting value…much like parenthood. Laurel told us: “We are called to reasonable service.” Life and other people often put us in situations that have crushing expectations. I try to err on the generous side of what is reasonable and then attempt to let go of expectations beyond that.
UKJN: What information or advice do you wish you’d received but didn’t (and had to learn through trial and error or on the go)?
LB: I wish I had learned how to be less defensive about my shortcomings earlier in life. Personal growth would have been smoother if I could have looked squarely at the things I was not good at and worked toward competence rather than deflecting out of a sense of inadequacy and shame.
UKJN: Your top tip(s) for other mothers in jazz:
LB: Community is a vital gift that we give our children. I remember how exhausting the early days of child-raising were, but if you can collect the energy to bring people together in your home for a simple meal, conversation, music, you will create a support system for all of you and teach your children about how to form community. Our modern, urban lifestyles often isolate us from family and leave little time for friendships. Electronics become a default nanny to our children, pulling all their focus and disengaging them from the present even as they are sitting in the same room with us. My tip is to hide the electronics, bring out craft supplies and create situations in which your children are happily occupied while still able to engage with others in a social setting.
UKJN: How does being a mother influence and shape the work you do as a manager and presenter?
LB: The BJP mission statement says that we will treat artists “with respect and love.” That is also an apt description of how we should treat our children. Respect doesn’t mean agreement: it means that we try to understand and honour the perspectives of others. We need to use the word “love” more in professional settings as loving people–whether it is your family and friends or colleagues and artists–is an act of the will as much as it is a feeling of the heart. Loving people means working towards the best for them, learning to compromise, be patient, forgive. Having children forces you to develop these qualities. Multi-tasking, strategizing, anticipating needs, even carrying around snacks on tour: these are qualities I developed as a mother which I use as a manager. Creating a safe space, celebrating creativity, offering encouragement and validation: these are qualities learned from mothering that I carry over into my work as a presenter.
UKJN: What is one way that figures or structures in the jazz industry could better support parents who are working jazz musicians?
LB: Presenters need to think about how to best accommodate families who are touring. On-site child care during sound checks and performances and a self-catering accommodation space rather than a hotel room are a place to start. Late night shows are a challenge for parents who don’t have the luxury of sleeping in. We’ve experimented with matinees on Sunday afternoons and find there is a good audience for that time frame so that is something for presenters to consider.
UKJN: What has surprised you about becoming a parent and remaining engaged with your professional activities and ambitions?
LB: I was mostly a stay-at-home parent so was far less engaged with professional activities. I did work part-time for a few years as a journalist and I loved the work but it was a huge juggle when I had to schedule shoots or conduct interviews on the phone from home. I found myself more impatient with my kids, juggling my keys as they struggled to do up their shoelaces. At the best of times, I walked a tightrope of balancing work and home: there was so little buffer and the whole house of cards came tumbling down when a child got sick.
I am 63. I was part of a generation that could afford the choice for one parent to stay at home. As I watch my children’s generation parent, I celebrate that my daughters intend to continue with their professional ambitions when they are parents, I celebrate that fathers have been relieved of the burden of being cast as the sole financial provider and can embrace a co-parenting role…and I send out prayers that we as a society will step up to make sure families have the financial and social supports that enable them to create a work/life balance that is healthy and fulfilling for parents and children.
(*) Parents in Jazz was started (first as ‘Mothers In Jazz’) by vocalist Nicky Schrire in August 2022. The initiative aims to create an online resource for jazz industry professionals with children, those contemplating parenthood, and jazz industry figures who work with and hire musicians who are parents. The insight of the musicians and administrators interviewed for this series provides valuable emotional, philosophical and logistical information and support that is easily accessible to all. “Parents In Jazz” shines a light on the very specific role of being both a parent and a performing jazz musician or jazz arts professional.
LINKS: Artist website
The complete archive of Nicky Schrire’s Parents In Jazz series
